During the colonial era, the Europeans did their best to destroy African culture, especially those that had to do with superstitions and religious beliefs that did not correspond with western principles. Concepts like reincarnation were frowned upon heavily by the European missionaries seeking to change the religious beliefs of Africans and since most aspects of life were based on religion at the time, changing one's religious beliefs meant changing one's political, social and economic beliefs as well. However, with the rise of cultural nationalisms, Africans began to reject European standards as the ideal and focus on bringing African culture back to the forefront. Hence, we see Soyinka and Clark as well as many other African poets bringing their cultural superstitions to their literary works, even though most of them are written in European languages. .
In Soyinka's Abiku poem, almost every line is made up of cultural beliefs and practices as they relate to the Abiku child. He even dips into non-African oral traditions in the line that says, "remember/ this, and dig me deeper still into/ the god's swollen foot. " (14-16). Here, Soyinka is referring to Oedipus, the Greek mythological figure, and his use of this in his poem suggests that he wants to show that oral tradition is not just an African phenomenon but rather, exists in different cultures all around the world. While, he doesn't expand on this line, it is important because it stands out from the rest of the poem as it is not connected to Yoruba tradition at all and it makes known to its readers the fact that oral traditions are universal. .
Also, Soyinka writes his poem from the subject's point of view as a means of humanizing the character. The concept of Abiku is usually explained as an other- worldly phenomenon, which made it easier for a lot of people to disassociate themselves with the idea. However, Soyinka writes his poem in first person in order to make known to people the fact that Abiku children do exist and they are, in fact, human beings.
